Dungeon World: A Dungeon Core Experience

by Jonathan Brooks

  Fred watched the fight between his two bodyguards with rapt attention; he was so shocked and confused by the developments that he couldn’t even move. In fact, his mind was so focused on the fight that he didn’t realize he was in danger until it was almost too late. Their struggling was so fierce that they were inadvertently moving toward him; he could feel the skin on his face start to become uncomfortably hot and dried out, bordering on pain. This finally spurred him to escape the battle by quickly crab-walking backwards, fleeing from the immediate danger.

  They were so focused on killing each other that they didn’t even see him. If he had stayed where he was for another few seconds, he would’ve been set on fire just as his blanket now currently was. Oh, no! My bag! In his haste to escape the fight, he had left his bag full of supplies next to where he was sleeping, which was now burning along with his blanket.

  This finally knocked some sense into him. “Firbey, Frozzles – stop fighting! What has gotten into you! Stop this right now!”

  Without even acknowledging his orders, the two deadly bodyguards fought even harder, with squirts of water erupting from the giant frog’s mouth, dimming the still tongue-caught fire elemental. Firbey wasn’t going to take that lying down, however; the sticky appendage attached to her seemed to be coated in a layer of fire, causing black scorch marks to appear all over the tongue.

  Fred continued to try and order them to stop, all the while backing up and staying away from the increasing heat infusing the small clearing where he had camped for the night. What’s going on? Why are they fighting each other – and why won’t they stop?

  Fortunately, or unfortunately (depending on how you looked at it), the fight didn’t look like it was going to last much longer. Frozzles appeared to be literally melting from the heat, his struggling hops getting weaker and weaker as the fight went on. Finally, after another weak fireball launched from Firbey (who was weakening along with him), the giant frog collapsed, burnt and scorched tongue still attached to the fire elemental.

  Fred watched in horror as his friend died, something that he never thought he would see; he had always been there, as far back as he could remember. To be brought down by his other friend was even worse – such a thing would’ve been unimaginable even a few minutes ago. Why? What is going—

  His confusion and brief mourning were interrupted when a weak fireball hit the tree next to his face, flaming bark hitting him unexpectedly across the cheek. He flung himself backwards again, shock and anger replacing his former feelings. “Hey! What are you doing? Stop it right this instant!” His pleas reached deaf ears, however, as Firbey continued to advance; she was much smaller than usual, though it wasn’t from condensing to become hotter – much of the mana infused in the fire elemental had been spent already.

  She moved quickly, crossing the distance between them in a flash, and Fred instinctively unsheathed his knives and held them out in front of him. He knew that fire-based defenders could be hurt by his weapons just as much as the water-based ones, though he would end up getting burned (or worse) in the process. They’ve all gone crazy! What am I supposed to do?

  With no other option (since she seemed not to be obeying orders anymore), Fred prepared to engage the fire elemental. He poised to strike, hoping to hit his former friend with a direct hit to the primary core of her mana, reducing the amount of heat exposure. However, another fireball formed on the exterior of the corona of flames, which was launched straight at him from only a few feet away. He saw it forming and was barely able to dive to the side in time; still, it passed only an inch over his left arm, leaving a painful line of scorched flesh in its wake.

  Fred hissed in pain as he struggled to rise from where he threw himself, but he quickly realized he wasn’t going to be fast enough. The fire elemental was right over him, descending to engulf his body in flames, its proximity enough to finish the job. He put his arm up holding one of his knives out front, but he didn’t have the leverage to properly defend himself, let alone attack. He braced against the intense heat and struck out ineffectively, as the fire elemental seemed to dance out of the way of his attack effortlessly.

  Just as he felt the heat become unbearable, Firbey was yanked backwards toward Frozzles, the attached tongue retracting toward the – apparently, almost-dead – mouth of the giant frog. Caught by surprise, the fire elemental couldn’t react in time to pull against the powerful appendage; she was swallowed whole, the mouth closing around her entire essence. With no air nearby to fuel her flames, she was snuffed out quicker than a torch falling into a pond.

  Frozzles tried to stand up, whether in victory or in an attempt to go after his former charge, Fred didn’t know; it didn’t matter though, as the giant frog fell to the ground again, strength spent on his last attack. Seconds later, the giant frog appeared to quickly deflate, becoming a formless blob that soon evaporated, leaving a small blob of mana behind.

  Chapter 5

  Fred – still on the ground and in the process of rising – froze as the events of the last few minutes processed in his brain. What the… How… Why… His muscles started to shake as they struggled to keep him in a half-risen position; he finally completed the action he had started and rose unsteadily to his feet. He stumbled back over to the clearing, absently noting that the place where his bag and blanket used to be was a still-smoldering pile of unburned scraps and ashes.

  As for his former bodyguards, he knelt by the side of their demise, the steady hum of power emanating from the formless mana on the ground. He had never seen mana like this before; normally, when one of his parents’ dungeon defenders was killed or needed to be replaced for some reason, it instantly melted into the ground, absorbed by either one of the dungeon cores to be reused. Hence, this was a new experience for him.

  The small gathering of raw mana was a mixture of blue and red, denoting the different elements that had infused the two “defenders” that had died. Though I would have to say that they failed at their defending job, here. At first the two colors were equally mixed together, but as Fred watched, the two colors started to segregate themselves, moving around until there were two relatively equal blobs sitting right next to each other.

  He knelt down at the edge of the pools of mana, staring at them in fascination. While he had seen a lot of mana used for different purposes inside his home, as well as the miniscule traces of power obvious in his surroundings (such as the trees, the earth below, and even the very air around him), the raw nature of this mana was quite unique to him. For some reason, he even felt a tiny connection to it, as if it was calling out to him; the feeling was so foreign that he focused on it, shutting out his other senses until he isolated it within himself.

  Unbidden, the same part inside of him that was able to see and sense the mana around him reached out toward the awaiting conglomeration of power on the ground, using his left hand as the conduit. As soon as he touched the red pool of mana, his fingers almost seemed to suck the goo-like substance into his body, disappearing instantly into his skin but leaving a pleasant warmth behind.

  Before the red mana was all absorbed, Fred placed his other hand on the blue, feeling the refreshing coolness of the water-based power flow into him from his other side. Within seconds, both of the mana blobs were gone, effortlessly absorbed into his body; Fred could feel the two powers inside of him, rushing through every part of his body. The feeling was strange, as if there was something crawling right underneath his skin, powerful and yet…restrained.

  Or at least, he thought it was restrained.

  A sudden spike of pain in his stomach knocked the wind out of him, and he collapsed on the ground, writhing in torment. The agony slowly spread out from his torso, traveling to his limbs, causing them to twitch and spasm uncontrollably. What is this? What is it doing to—

  The pain reached his head, and suddenly he knew: the opposing elements of fire and water were fighting against each other inside his body. It was as if Firbey and Frozzles were continuing their fight from earlier –
they had just chosen a new battleground. The torturous battle threatened to rip him apart and he almost blacked out from the suffering his body was going through; an unknown part of his mind wouldn’t let him off that easily, however.

  Do not fight it…embrace your element and infuse it into your structure, covering each facet as if you are trying to build upon your existing self. Reach into the core of yourself and hold onto the power, making it a part of you; you are the mana and the mana is you.

  That made absolutely no sense to him, but the words and intent behind them did help to distract him from the pain. Embrace the mana? What is that supposed to mean? Am I supposed to give it a hug? The idea of trying to hug either of his bodyguards was so ludicrous to him that it forced him to smile a little, even as his body was wracked by the intense battle being waged inside of him.

  The humorous thought seemed to have an effect on the elements, however; they didn’t stop their assault on each other, but Fred could definitely feel a lessening of the intensity. Maybe I just need to show them that they don’t need to do this – they can get along without fighting. Fred pictured in his mind his parents; the way they were able to incorporate both of their elements in harmony inside the dungeon, their sharing of their limited resources to achieve something together that was better as a whole than as separate defenses, and – of course – their eternal and endless love of each other.

  He remembered the love they extended to him; regardless of his form, they raised him, took care of him, and protected him as best they could. Eternally grateful for the caring and gentle attitude of his parents, he was also awed at the kind and thoughtful way they raised him – by not making him feel like an anomaly, an outcast, an outsider, or even a defective dungeon core. To them, he was their son, no matter what he looked like…and that was all that mattered.

  As those memories and thoughts ran through his head, he could feel the warring elements start to calm, their fighting scaling down until it was no more than small jabs at each other. He didn’t even feel any more pain by the time they stopped, settling down as thoughts of love and peace suffused his mind and the muscles in his body relaxed, sore from the intense workout they just received. Eventually, the opposing mana elements had stopped moving throughout his body, settling in tranquility alongside each other in a harmonious joining of peaceful communion.

  Fred lay on the ground where he had fallen, gasping out breaths that were slowly returning to normal; his body relaxed as well, his tortured muscles feeling like jelly. Gradually, everything seemed to normalize: his body, his mind, and the power infusing both. As soon as that happened, he heard a faint *click* in his head.

  Newborn Dungeon Core Initialization Program Commencing…

  What—

  Congratulations on absorbing your first mana from your environment, newborn! Learning how to absorb and manipulate the ambient mana around you is an important and fundamental requirement for being a productive and successful part of the ******** faction! You are on your way to becoming a mighty and powerful dungeon core! Make your faction proud!

  This initialization program is designed to help all newborn dungeon cores acclimate to their new existence, by doing the following:

  Introducing you to your new Mana Manipulation menus

  Presenting your Creation options

  Exploring your Status Menu

  Basic Dungeon Management guidelines and rules

  Growing your core and expanding your territory

  Absorbing and converting foreign mana into ******** mana

  And more!

  While this initialization program provides a basic understanding of what you – as a dungeon core – will need to learn, please don’t hesitate to ask your parents about faction-specific questions on the dungeon development process. Not everything is covered here, and your parents will be your prime mentors and guides for the foreseeable future, so they should have the answers you seek.

  If you are more of the independent type of dungeon core, you can also visit the help section in your menu.

  Now, after your parents’ congratulations on your initialization, please visit the course guide for suggested learning topics…

  The words came unbidden to his mind, running across his vision but not impeding it. He found that he could recall them whenever he wanted to, running through the entire thing over and over again. Each time he did, he understood a little more of what it was trying to say; it didn’t make much sense at first, because the meaning behind the words was unknown and yet familiar at the same time. His sluggish mind – still overcome from the sudden awakening, fight between his bodyguards, and the absorption of their mana – finally caught up, though.

  This says I’m a dungeon core! I can finally be what my parents always wanted me to be!

  Fred knew his mother and father loved him, but he knew that they had wished he had been born…normal. I may not look the same, but I’m a dungeon core now! His parents were going to be so surprised and, hopefully, excited!

  He mentally shoved the message away, curious to explore everything it had to teach, yet wanting his parents to share in the joy and exploration of his newfound status. They wanted so badly to be able to teach him all about running a dungeon that he didn’t want to deny them that experience.

  Scrambling to his feet, he felt full of energy now. In the corner of his mind, he noticed that the level of mana infusing his system was slowly dropping; at the same time, his burnt arm was starting to heal, and his stomach was starting to feel full, like he had just eaten a meal. Those feelings were secondary, though, as he raced through the forest in the dark, using his ability to sense the ambient mana around him (which seemed to have strengthened with his new discovery) to navigate his way home.

  A few hours later, the sun was just starting to rise behind the clouds filling the sky when he burst out of the trees, running full-tilt without slowing towards home. He felt a little tired, even though running through the forest should’ve exhausted him long before; nonetheless, he still felt as if he could run for days. The dual mana in his system had dropped a bit, but it didn’t feel like it was a significant amount. I wonder why it’s going away? Is there a way to see how much I have left?

  Fire Mana: 88/100

  Water Mana: 88/100

  He tripped and fell, skidding along the semi-frozen ground and ripping open big gashes on his face and hands. Where did that come from? He slowly picked himself up, wary of damaging anything further and checking for anything broken. The stinging pain started to hit him as he got up, though it immediately dulled and started to fade. Fred watched in amazement as the skin on his scraped hands started to slowly mend together, itching slightly while it was fixing itself. It wasn’t instantaneous or quick…but it was healing.

  He stood there in amazement for nearly an hour, feeling the same pain then itch then tingling happen on his face, sealing up the wounds he had suffered. Eventually, they were as healthy and unblemished as newborn skin – though the blood that had covered the injuries was still there. I’ve got to take a bath when I get home, Mother is going to freak when she sees all this blood. I wonder if this healing is just part of being a dungeon core?

  Fire Mana: 80/100

  Water Mana: 80/100

  Ah, so that’s how it is. Although his mind had registered it at the time, Fred really hadn’t looked at his arm that Firbey had burned; now that he looked at it, he could see that the scorched part was healed as well, a few blackened flakes of skin that were easily brushed aside the only evidence that anything had happened.

  He smiled, even more excited to show his parents what he could do now. Starting to run again, he could only imagine how shocked they would be when they found out about the change in him. In the distance, he could see the small mountain of rock that indicated home, so he ran even faster, too excited to fully wonder about the real reason behind why his bodyguards had attacked each other.

  Chapter 6

  As Fred got closer to home, running with his head in the clou
ds, his awareness came crashing back as he noticed a patch of torn-up dirt. It was so out of place on the largely featureless expanse of the northern wasteland that he immediately stopped and looked at it closer. The footprint – for that was what it looked like – was huge, bigger than his head, even. Although it wasn’t clear, it appeared as if whatever had caused it had long, sharp nails that had ripped up the semi-frozen ground like it was the softest earth.

  And it was headed straight for the dungeon.

  As he looked back along where it came from, it appeared as if it came slightly from the west, intersecting and following his path that he had taken from home two days before. He wasn’t a good judge at how old the tracks were, but he knew they must’ve occurred at some point between when he left and now, though when he bent down, he could see that some frost from the frigid northern temperatures was already starting to form even on the deepest indentations in the earth.

  Worried about such a powerful creature getting near his home (he’d never seen anything that could rip up the ground like that before), he doubled his speed, pulling out everything he had to get there in time to help possibly defend the dungeon. I can do so much more now! Please let me get there in time! He didn’t know exactly what he could do, since he hadn’t taken the time to read up and learn about his new status, but he was hoping that it would come naturally.

  Fred’s worry only started to grow as he approached the entrance, passing by more and more tracks from different beasts (he assumed) leading to the dungeon, though none of them tore the ground up like the first one he had seen. He tore through the entrance without stopping, only slowing down once he was inside, and shock tore through his whole being.